McHenry company offers healthier vending machines

A startup company in McHenry aims to change how people eat, starting with vending machines.

Healthy U provides vending machines stocked with healthier snack foods, things like nutrition bars made with whole grains and no bad fats or fake sweeteners.

The company this week signed its first schools customer, District 155 in Chicago's northwest suburbs. That includes Crystal Lake South, Crystal Lake Central, Cary-Grove and Prairie Ridge high schools.

The schools' business manager Jeff Carr says the idea is to provide kids with healthier options. So they've replaced old machines full of potato chips and candy with the new ones.

Healthy U's other clients include the city of McHenry and Crystal Lake and several corporate customers. It started up last year.